Telaga Warna

Long time ago, there was a kingdom in West Java called Kutatanggeuhan. Kutatanggeuhan was a peaceful kingdom. People live in peace and prosperity as led by the wise king, Suwartalaya Kuttanggeuhan and his queen, Ratu Purbamanah. However, after married for a long time, they had not been given any children yet. The king and the queen were sad and lonely. They were also afraid that they had not any successor that will replace them to lead the kingdom in the future. The king had no idea what to do.

After long thought, the king decided to go to jungle to find a quiet place to mediate. He wanted to pray to Almighty God for getting an offspring. After few days of mediating, King Suwartalaya suddenly heard a voice.

“Stop your meditation, my king. So, you want a child. Will you love him or her if you get one?” The voice said.

“Yes, my lord. I want a child so he or she can be my successor to lead the kingdom. Yes, my lord, I will love my child. I will always, my lord.” The king replied.

“Go home, then.” The voice continued.

The king then went home immediately to meet his queen. He told everything to his queen. And few weeks later, the queen was pregnant. They had never been so happy before. After nine months of pregnancy, the queen delivered a beautiful baby girl which later named as Rukmini Gilang. The king and the king were so happy that finally they had a child. The people of the kingdom were happy too. After waiting for a long time, they finally had a princess. To celebrate the new born princess, the king held a party and invited all the people in the kingdom to join.

Several years had passed, the princess Rukmini Gilang grew to be a very beautiful girl. The king and the queen spoiled the princess so much. They gave everything that the princess wanted. It made the princess had a bad attitude. However, the king, the queen and the people of the kingdom still loved her. They hope one day the princess temperament would change.

In few weeks, Princess Rukmini Gilang would turn to be seventeen years old. As usual, when princess birthday come, people of the kingdom would busy to prepare the party, the big one. They prepared all things, the foods, the entertainments, and the presents. And for this birthday presents, the people of the kingdom collected some beautiful gems. They planned to give those beautiful gems to the best goldsmith in the kingdom to make a very beautiful necklace. They intended to present the necklace as the birthday gift for the princess in her seventeenth with hope that the princess would happily accepted it.

Finally a long-awaited day came. The people of the kingdom gathered in the courtyard to celebrate princess birthday. All things were set, the foods, the entertainments, and of course the necklace. It was a big and beautiful party. People of the kingdom are so happy to see that their beloved princess was now seventeen. Finally, the king and the queen, alongside with the princess came. The people of the kingdom were so fascinating to see the princess that grew even more beautiful than before.

Now is the time for people of the kingdom to present their special gift for the princess. They handed a well-craft wooden box with a very beautiful necklace inside to the king. King Suwartalaya opened the box and pulled out the beautiful necklace that gleam various colors. It was so lovely necklace. Then king Suwartalaya gave it to the princess Rukmini Gilang. Princess Rukmini Gilang only stared on it. It seemed that she was not interested on it. “Come on my daughter, wear this lovely necklace. Do not fail the people of the kingdom who give it to you. They love you so much. They will be happy if you wear this necklace.” The king asked.

“What?? You said this necklace is beautiful? Are you blind? This is the ugliest necklace I have ever seen. I don’t want to wear it.” The princess shouted.

She slammed the necklace to the ground till it shattered. The king, the queen, and the people of the kingdom stood in silent witnessing their beloved princess like that. Tears began to come down from the queen’s eyes. She was so sad to see her daughter’s behavior. The king and the people of the kingdom were also sad. They cried until their tears flooded the palace. Suddenly, a big water came from the ground where the shattered necklace lied. The water flooded the palace as well as the kingdom until it sank and created a lake.

Right now, we can still sew the lake. The lake is located in Puncak, West Java. The lake is well known as Telaga Warna because we can see various colors in the surface. People believe that those colors come from the shattered-necklace that the princess Rukmini Gilang thrown away in the ground.

Moral of the story: love to ones who love you with appreciate their effort. :3